When you see all the rain, and flooding, and rivers of mud in Southern California, it's easy to think their fire season is over for this year. But that's simply not the case, and even less for the Bay Area.
Division chief of the State of California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Ed Orre, said it’s too soon to tell if tropical storm Hilary ends the fire season or simply delays it.
“Southern California is notorious for having Santa Ana winds later in the year, and they can dry out fuels or even green vegetation very quickly,” he said.
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Those Santa Ana winds generally arrive in October and can last into December, so a verdict on fire season in SoCal is a ways off.
As for what impact the rain had in Northern California, Marin County Fire Chief Jason Weber said, “I think the rain probably put a halftime on fire season down in Southern California, but really very little if any impact on the north coast from Monterey north.”
One impact the rains did have on North Bay firefighters is that several crews were sent to the Bakersfield area in case swift water rescues were necessary. But the chief stresses, if you're hoping for a reprieve from fire danger, you're out of luck.
“Fire season just took a day off,” said Orre. “If in a few days, the heat returns, the winds return – not much change for us.”
And to the north of the Bay Area, usually-wet northwest California has received precious little rain or even fog drip for weeks now, resulting in 27 lightning sparked fires near the border with Oregon and 28,000 acres burned.
Meaning despite a rare tropical storm, the rest of this year could still be a brutal fire season for all of California.
